Category Archives: film

September 28, 2013 · 00:39

My Life is Movie Quotes

“My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.” Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman)

I have been rather serious the past few days on the blog but in real life I am usually less than serious. It is scary because whether I am at work, at home or out it seems like no matter what the topic, no matter what the situation be it serious, light hearted or mundane a movie or television quote somehow comes to mind. Truthfully sometimes I wonder about me.

However last night Judy found herself doing the same thing and of course giving me the credit, or the blame for her doing the same thing. I love it when a plan comes together.

In one of my classes on National Security Policy we were talking about the limits of what you could do as a military or a nation and the quote from Magnum Force where Harry Callahan (Dirty Harry played by Clint Eastwood) told Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook) “A man’s got to know his limitations.” In another discussion I was thinking of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. But I digress…

Like I said I always seem to come up with movie or sometimes television quotes for the occasion. I think it is because I have one of those phonographic memories that keeps going around and around.

When someone is too negative I think of Donald Sutherland in Kelly’s Heroes who said to his driver “Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?”

Of course my life is a sea of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Pulp Fiction and other quotes. When I have no idea about something I think of Mongo (Alex Karras) who said “Mongo not know, Mongo only pawn in game of life” or when I’m a bit nervous I think of the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) “But I shoot with this hand.”

I think that you might be getting the idea. I’m a bit warped, but I’m okay with it. For better or worse I cannot go through a day without a minimum of three or four movie or television quotes. They come from everywhere and nowhere and span the ages and genres. Sometimes I wonder if I picked “the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.”

So there it is. You want the truth? Then you need to ask this question posed by George Costanza (Jason Alexander) on Seinfeld: “Do you ever get down on your knees and thank God you know me and have access to my dementia?”

Have a good night and great weekend “Set ludicrous speed” and “go do that Voodoo that you do so well!”

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Filed under film, Just for fun, purely humorous

Tagged as alex karras, blazing saddles, clint eastwood, donald sutherland oddball, george costanza, harry callahan, harvey korman, hedley lamarr, jason alexander, kelly's heroes, magnum force, mongo, movie quotes, pulp fiction, seinfeld, young frankenstein

May 20, 2013 · 00:15

Star Trek: Into Darkness

I saw Star Trek: Into Darkness yesterday and as I mentioned in my last article about the subject last week I did promise that I would do a review of it when I saw it. So I saw the movie and to sum up my experience in the words of Spock it was “fascinating.”

Now the “Prime Directive” of writing a movie review of a recently released film is not to give away spoilers and I will not violate the Prime Directive.

I saw the film in its 3D format in a nice theater. I have come to enjoy the 3D experience as the technology continues to improve. Director JJ Abrams has put together one of the best Star Trek films of all time. I have been watching the Star Trek franchise since the very beginning of the original series when I was a kid and continued watching TOS in the early days of syndication before the first film Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released in December 1979 when I was a sophomore in college.

Needless to say I am a big fan of the franchise as a whole and having seen every movie, every episode of TOS, TNG, DS9, most of Voyager I have to consider that I am a Trekkie, Trekker or whatever label that you want to give me. The only series that I have not seen except for a few episodes was Enterprise because I was deployed or traveling on various other military duties around the world through much of its run. The times I was home it was hard to find because the local television stations didn’t carry it.

When I was a teen ager I read most of the TOS novels that came out in paperback and when TNG came out I read quite a few of those as well. Each one kind of expanded my Trek experience, and at one time I think I had most if not all of the TOS and TNG Technical Manuals.

My preferences in the Star Trek franchise have been the TOS, TNG and DS9 series, the last of which I am currently watching in order. I watched every TNG episode in order between the end of the 2012 World Series and Opening Day 2013 before beginning DS9 which I am now into Season 5. I figure that I will get Voyager when I finish DS9. I missed a lot of Voyager episodes due to deployment or working nights in civilian hospitals.

As far as the previous movies they have been a hit or miss affair for me. Of the Original Series films I was not a big fan either of Star Trek the Motion Picture or Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was okay for me but the three films that I can watch almost any day of the week are Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to which the new film has some interesting connections, as well as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. However my favorite of these has to be The Wrath of Khan and the TOS episode that is sprung from Space Seed. As for the films associated with Star Trek the Next Generation I found First Contact and Nemesis to be the best, but overall found the television series much better than the films.

All that being said I have said almost nothing about the new film as of yet. I loved the first film in the reboot of the series, Star Trek which came out in 2009. I liked the casting, the story line which broke the old time line and paradigm which allowed the new series to take on a life of its own even which keeping connection to other parts of the series. Because to this the possibilities that Abrams and his team have opened up are very “Roddenberry” and the new film has the feel of what I think Gene Roddenberry might have imagined for the future of the series.

The fact is that Roddenberry was not afraid to break the molds of his own creation. He killed Spock, destroyed the Enterprise and took the story with a different cast to a different century. As the creator of the series he was not afraid to take risks and to take the series to places that many fans could not have imagined. I can only imagine that after 10 feature films involving two separate series and 703 television episodes in one timeline spanning 5 separate series that Roddenberry would approve of the new life that Abrams and his team have give to the series.

I found that the cast is really beginning to gel as the crew of the Enterprise. Even though they are different actors each has captured the spirit of characters of the Original Series. Chris Pine as Captain Kirk is younger but believable as Kirk. We see the defiant and independent nature of Kirk in his performance. Zachary Quinto as Spock is as close to perfect as to how I imagine Spock could be in the new timeline. The appearances of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime and his interactions with Quinto’s Spock are priceless. My favorites in the other characters brought over from the Original Series are Bones McCoy played by Karl Urban and Scotty played by Simon Pegg. Sulu played by John Cho, Uhura played by Zoe Saldana and Chekov played by Anton Yelchin are all good in their parts but because the characters are only seen briefly in each of the films they are harder to get to know, unlike the cast members of either TOS or TNG who were known to fans through their respective series before they appeared in any of the films.

As far as the villain of the film, initially known as John Harrison played by Benedict Cumberbatch is as good of villain as you can get in Star Trek, but then he too is reprised from the TOS series, better known as…. No won’t say it, it would violate the Prime Directive, even though you can look it up somewhere else like the the Internet Movie Data Base at www.imdb.com Because of what Abrams does with this part of the story line a whole new set of possibilities remains open regarding this villain in future episodes and Cumberbatch was an excellent villain that I would not mind seeing again should they decide to reprise his role.

The story line is excellent, especially in light of 12 years of war following the terrorist attacks of 9-11-2001. I think one think that transcends the terrific action and special effects of the movie is how it is possible for those defending the ideal of freedom to cross the line into tyranny when they believe freedom might be threatened. It really is a fascinating metaphor that is important, because the darkness referred to in the title is not really the outside threats to freedom, but the threat harbored in each of us when we give in to the temptation to not ask the hard questions about the morality of our own actions that we take in the defense of our freedoms.

Abrams dedicates the film to the post 9-11 veterans and that is something that I appreciate because he backs that up by working with the charity The Mission Continues. Abrams had 6 veterans form the honor guard folding the flag at the somber memorial service scene at the end of the movie, something that most of us who have served over the past 12 years have seen or participated in too many. For me that was especially touching.

Anyway, I don’t think that any fan of Star Trek can go wrong in seeing this film and it may help bring new fans into the fold by sending them back to watch the series that helped begin everything in the Star Trek universe.

Live Long and Prosper,

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Tagged as anton yelchin, benedict cumberbatch, captain james t kirk, chris pine, dr leonard bones mccoy, ensign chekov, jj abrams, john cho, john harrison, karl urban, khan singh, lcdr montgomery scott, leonard nimoy, lt sulu, lt uhura, mr spock, post 9-11-2001 veterans, scotty, simon pegg, star trek, star trek 2009, star trek deep space nine, star trek enterprise, star trek the next generation, star trek the orignial series, star trek the wrath of khan, star trek voyager, the mission continues, zachary quinto

May 4, 2013 · 00:00

42: Thank God for Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey

“Your enemy will be out in force. But you cannot meet him on his own low ground.” Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) in the movie 42

“The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.” Jackie Robinson

Tonight I went and saw the movie 42. I have been wanting to see it since before it came out. As anyone who knows me or reads my articles on this website knows I am not only a historian and theologian but maybe more importantly a student of the game of baseball and baseball history. I have written articles on the integration of baseball as well as Jackie Robinson. I have read many books and article about the subject and even still I was unprepared for what I saw tonight. As I watched the movie I found that I was often overcome with tears. That doesn’t happen to me often in movies.

A while back I wrote an article about African American soldiers in the First World War and I had a man ask in a comment “why is everything about racism?” The fact that the article was about history and the neglected sacrifices of African Americans who volunteered to serve their country in a time of war and were treated as less than human by many of their fellow citizens was lost on the man. The fact that the French government and not the American government recognized their achievements on those battlefields was also lost on the man. The same is unfortunately true in many other parts of our national life.

Call me a liberal or whatever, but I find racism and other forms of discrimination and hatred to be abhorrent, especially when those that are their most virulent supporters claim to be Christians. Seeing on film the things that I have previously read about in the life and career of Jackie Robinson brought me to tears through much of the movie. To see the hatred, the threats and the open prejudice of people towards Jackie grieved me. It is hard to believe that 80 years after the Civil War and over 170 years after the publication of the Declaration of Independence that so many white people fought against the simple concept of the equality of the races and the rights of people to fully participate in society, even in sports.

Unfortunately racism and many other forms of discrimination are still alive and well in our country. I am 53 years old. I came to age in an era where my high school class was the first to be desegregated in my hometown and attend high school completely in a desegregated environment. When I finished high school I really believed that racism was dead and on its way out. Unfortunately, 35 years after I graduated I still see it. In many cases it is much more subtle but I can say that there are times when it is nearly as blatant as it was in April of 1947 when Jackie Robinson first stepped onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.

Some of the things that I have read and see about President Obama over the past 5-6 years are glaring examples of such racist attitudes. A friend of mine, a conservative evangelical Christian pastor and a graduate of the Citadel who hails from Georgia told me that many of his fellow Southerners believe that the President “doesn’t know his proper place.” I found that interesting because that has been a charge directed by many whites at blacks and others that aspire to higher office or jobs that they do not feel that blacks, other minorities or women should do.

Branch Rickey, the President and General Manager of the Dodgers was a visionary and a true Christian who dared to challenge the status quo of his age. Jackie Robinson was a courageous man who endured death threats, physical abuse, taunting and even physical assaults during ball games masked as wild pitches and hard base running. Rickey told Robinson when he signed with the Dodger’s “we’ve got no army. There’s virtually nobody on our side. No owners, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I’m afraid that many fans will be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I’m doing this because you’re a great ballplayer, a fine gentleman.”

For me it seems so hard to comprehend the hatred that would seek to deny people who are fellow citizens, human beings and in the case of Christians, brothers or sisters in Christ a place at the table. Whether that table is elected office, baseball diamond or even a church simply because of their race, gender, religion or even sexual orientation I do believe that the table should be open to all and that one’s character and competence need to be the measure, and not the color of their skin, whether they are male or female, the place that they are from, who their parents happen to be, the God that they worship or the people they love. I’m sure that both Robinson and Rickey would agree.

I admire both Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, as well as the Dodger’s team Captain Pee-Wee Reese for what they did in that pivotal season of 1947. However, there is so much more work to be done in our generation. I do hope that we find it in ourselves to answer this sacred call.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Tagged as 42, 42 movie, branch rickey, brooklyn dodgers, ebbets field, integration of baseball, jackie robinson, pee wee reese, racsim

February 25, 2013 · 23:59

Padre Steve’s Thoughts on the Academy Awards

For the first time in years I can actually say that I saw a good number of the films nominated for Oscars. Even more surprising I actually enjoyed the Academy Award presentation show for the first time in I don’t know how long. I think a lot had to do with the fact that I had seen a lot of really good films this year and secondly I enjoyed Seth MacFarlane’s presentation.

I was reading today that quite a few people didn’t like it. They sneered through their facelifts and Botox filled lips that MacFarlane’s humor was juvenile, crude and all sorts of other. Oh well, I guess that’s where my mind operates, but then I don’t think I have anything in common with the film critics and entertainment commentators that didn’t like it. If I recall correctly they didn’t like Mel Brooks either. Some people don’t know how to laugh, especially at themselves. Actually though I didn’t think that he deserved to win, that Ted the bear deserved a nomination for best actor. But that’s just me.

What was really cool that Judy, watching over 200 miles away from me enjoyed it too. I guess that this proves that we were made for one another. I loved Captain Kirk coming to the rescue and the Jaws theme playing every time an award recipient went overtime, the only thing that could have made it better was to have a Great Land Shark eat the first offender.

As or the actual movies that I saw and the Oscars awarded, the show was pretty good. Now of the big films nominated I saw Lincoln, Argo, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained. I did not see the Life of Pi because I gave up Pi and its carbs in order to be able to drink beer. That is kind of a yin and yang kind of thing, I like Pi but it’s a trade off. I also didn’t see Les Miserables because frankly watching a depressing story without any gratuitous sex or unnecessary violence put to song does nothing for me. I didn’t see Silver Linings Playbook but since I deal with crazy all the time and have the Mad Cow myself, I figured I pretty much knew the story. I also didn’t see the foreign film about the old foreign people because that has no market in Eastern North Carolina. I am not against foreign films, especially if they deal with U-Boats like Das Boot or Gay French Couples such as La Cage Aux Folles.

Now of the films that I saw, they were all great, even Ted, which sadly didn’t get a nomination. The scenes of Congress in Lincoln were so realistic that I wondered where Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Harry Reed were, and if they had a role as advisors to Spielberg. I thought that Daniel Day Lewis deserved the Best Actor Oscar for Lincoln, and why not, his Lincoln did better in theaters than the real Lincoln.

Likewise I loved Argo, anything that pisses the Ayatollah’s in Iran off get’s my vote for best picture. Skyfall was not only the best Bond in like Diamonds are Forever, but the villain was the creepiest ever, almost as good as Dick Cheney. Oh, damn, he wasn’t in a Bond film, my bad I meant Christopher Walken.

Zero Dark Thirty was great and though it didn’t win a big award it scores because it tells the story of killing Bin Laden and has been unofficially banned in Pakistan.

Django Unchained was one of my favorites this year and I thought that the writing and acting was brilliant. I was glad that Christoph Waltz won the Best Supporting Actor, though I still think that Harvey Korman was cheated back in 1974 when he didn’t get a nomination for Blazing Saddles. Waltz is a brilliant actor, one of the best around and the role was amazing. Ang Lee getting the Best Director was a tough choice, Ben Affleck should have been nominated but wasn’t and Steven Spielberg or Quentin Tarantino could have easily won.

At least the losers were gracious unlike this character.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfD2JFfwxLY

As or the show, again, I thought that Seth MacFarlane did a great job in offending almost everyone equally. But that hasn’t been allowed since Mel Brooks did it back in the 1970s. I saw that MacFarlane was in a no-win situation and in order to win he elected to emulate Captain Kirk with the Kobyashi Maru scenario. He was charged with trying to attract younger viewers to a show that has been the realm of rich ossified geriatrics who wish they had the talent of the people that they were heckling. Sorry, trying to please some people is like trying to please the two old guys in the Muppets, or failing that the commentators and pundits that always look like they are constipated on cable news.

So anyway, enough for tonight.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Tagged as academy awards, ang lee, argo, ben affleck, blazing saddles, christopher walken, daniel day lewis, dick cheney, django unchained, harvey korman, la cage aux folles, life of pi, lincoln, mel brooks, oscars, quentin tarantino, rowan atkinson the sore loser, seth macfarlane, skyfall, sliver linings playbook, steven spielberg, ted, zero dark thirty

February 21, 2013 · 23:53

Thinking About Community: A Place Where Everybody Knows Your Name

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMNVNRybluQ

Some years ago the theme song of the television show “Cheers!” struck a chord with people, because it expressed the desire of many people. I have talked about it before and the song is a favorite of mine.

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Wouldn’t you like to get away?

We live in an increasingly disconnected world despite the proliferation of devices designed to make communication easier. Our dependence on these devices often serves to disconnect us from community because we use them to accomplish things without any human contact. I mean really, what percentage of our Facebook “friends” really know us and how many can we go to when the chips are down.

We shop in massive stores, attend mega-churches, exist on fast food bought at a drive through and we don’t know our neighbors. To most organizations we are not real life human beings but statistics whose only value is in profit and market share. And we wonder why so many people are depressed, lonely and even despair of life.

Sometimes you want to go, Where everybody knows your name,

and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows Your name.

Having a place where people know you and care about you matters.

In a time where many people feel alone and disconnected community really matters because as Americans we are all in this together. Today, as they have for the past few years large numbers of American cities and towns are enduring great hardship, and this disconnect between people, evidenced by the fact that we often don’t even know our neighbors has created a social isolation that only breeds hatred and discontent. With this true lack of community we should be surprised with increasing crime, violence, discrimination and prejudice.

The sad thing to me as a religious leader, a Navy Chaplain is that for many people that I encounter the Church is not a place of love, safety, community or acceptance. Many have suffered greatly at the hands of religious people and institutions and some though raised in devoutly Christian homes across the denominational spectrum have not only left the church, for some other church but no longer believe.

Community doesn’t happen overnight and sometimes illusion of perpetual prosperity only serves to drive us apart. However, sometimes communities are reborn when facing crisis, people begin to look out for one another again and the welcome sign means that you really are welcome.

I have found that in a number of places, in Virginia I have my friends that the Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Harbor Park in Norfolk and St James Episcopal Church inPortsmouth. In North Carolina I have found that community at Rucker John’s in Emerald Isle and with my friends from Kinston, from when that town still had a Minor League team. Those friends have remained and I am grateful, especially because of how broken I was when I returned from Iraq. I don’t think that until one experiences that kind of brokenness that one really appreciates a place where people care for you, accept you and make you feel like you belong.

But, what has been neat for me and what is true for others is when we do find that special place for ourselves it is a beautiful thing. Likewise, when we can provide that kind of home to others we can really understand the last stanza of the song from Cheers which never aired on television.

Be glad there’s one place in the world
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
You want to go where people know,
People are all the same;
You want to go where everybody knows your name.

Peace

Padre Steve+

Blazing Saddles at 39

“I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, shit-kickers and Methodists.” Hedley Lamar (Harvey Korman)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiTKIbR69ss

Today is the 39th anniversary of the release of the Mel Brook Western parody classic Blazing Saddles. I wasn’t quite 14 years old when it came out but somehow managed to get a ticket to the R rated movie. I didn’t have a fake I.D. like President Obama said was how he might have gotten into the theater to see it when he was 13, but I remember getting in to a lot of R rated movies back in those days without any parental supervision.

To me the film is a cultural icon and classic. I watch it several times a year and if there is nothing else on and I want a good laugh there is a good chance that I will put it in my DVD player.

The movie couldn’t be made today. It insulted everyone and was one of the most politically incorrect movies ever made. However, 1974 was a different time. It was a time of social and political turmoil as the Vietnam War wound down, the economy tanked and the Nixon Presidency teetered with each new revelation about the Watergate break in and cover-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upvZdVK913I

Mel Brooks used comedy to confront many of the evils still rampant in our society, racism, sexism, political corruption as well is simple ignorance were all targets of Brooks’ wit.

Starring Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Harvey Korman, and Madeline Kahn it became one of the surprise hits of its era, surprising even Brooks in its acceptance and box office success. Unlike many movies it has endured and now at 39 years is considered one of the classics of American film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dm9rN6oTs

Brooks’ rich parody of the Western genre. Even John Wayne, though asked by Brooks to be in the film after looking at the script “Naw, I can’t do a movie like that, but I’ll be first in line to see it!”

Now when I see some of the same prejudice, racism, ignorance and corruption today I am reminded of Jim the Waco Kid’s (Gene Wilder) comments to Sheriff Bart when he experienced the racial prejudice of a little old lady:

“What did you expect? “Welcome, sonny”? “Make yourself at home”? “Marry my daughter”? You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.”

Now since it is getting late and I have things to do in the morning even though “My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives” I must prepare for bed.

Peace

Padre Steve+

Feet of Clay: The Common Flaw of the Best and Brightest

General Allenby: [leafing through Lawrence’s dossier] “Undisciplined… unpunctual… untidy. Knowledge of music… knowledge of literature… knowledge of… knowledge of… you’re an interesting man there’s no doubt about it.”

Character is a terrible thing to judge. Mostly because those doing the judging also suffer from flaws in their own character. Yet somehow the temptation is for us to stand as judge, jury and character executioner on those that we find wanting. As a culture we like tearing down those that we at one time built up. It is a rather perverse proclivity that we have as human beings, especially if we can find some kind of religious justification for it.

I think that is part of the complexity of the human condition. As a historian I find that the most exalted heroes, men and women of often great courage both moral and physical, intellect, creativity, humanity and even compassion have feet of clay.

I find that I am attracted to those characters who find themselves off the beaten track. Visionaries often at odds with their superiors, institutions, and sometimes their faith and traditions. Men and women who discovered in themselves visions for what might be and pursued those visions, sometimes at the costs of their families, friends, and in quite a few cases their lives.

Throughout my studies I have been attracted to men as diverse as Peter the Apostle, Martin Luther, T.E. Lawrence, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Erwin Rommel, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Dwight D Eisenhower, Franklin Roosevelt, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Robinson, Teresa of Avila, Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel and Emir Feisal Hussein of the Arab Revolt. All had flaws. Some involved fits of temper and violence, others sexual escapades, mistresses, affairs, greed avarice, and maybe some that stretched law and morality in their quest to achieve their goals. But all are considered great men and women.

Feet of clay. Who doesn’t have them? But them I think that I would rather have feet of clay than a heart of stone, an an unchallenged mind, or a lack of courage to do the right thing even if it does not directly benefit me.

Tonight I watched for the first time straight through the cinema classic Lawrence of Arabia. Peter O’Toole plays Lawrence in a most remarkable manner, showing his brilliance, courage, diplomatic ability and understanding of the Arabs with whom he served.

There are many people, leaders and others that we encounter in life or that we study. Even the best of the best are flawed and there is no such thing as a Saint who never sinned. But we love destroying them and their memory when to our “surprise” when we find that their hagiographers built them into an idol.

I am a great believer in redemption and the weight of the whole of a person’s life. Thus I try to put the flaws as they are called in perspective and their impact both positive and negative in history. Studying in this way gives me a greater perspective on what it is to be human and to place my own clay feet in appropriate perspective.

It was an interesting film to watch.

However, speaking of feet of clay I will probably be writing about the Baseball Writers who vote for the inductees for the Hall of Fame. Today for the first time in nearly 4 decades no players were selected for induction, mostly due to the steroid era. But that is a subject for another night.

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Tagged as abraham lincoln, Admiral Horatio Nelson, arab revolt 1916, dietrich bonhoeffer, dr martin luther king jr, Dwight D Eisenhower, Emir Feisal Hussein, erwin rommel, franklin roosevelt, general allenby, jackie robinson, john f kennedy, lawrence of arabia film, Martin Luther, Nelson Mandela, peter o'toole, Peter the Apostle, t e lawrence, teresa of avila, vaclav havel

January 6, 2013 · 21:56

Craving a Hamburger: Pulp Fiction and a Less than Inglourious Wild Card Weekend

Vincent: All right, well you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don’t mean just like in no paper cup, I’m talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy beer at MacDonald’s. You know what they call a…a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don’t call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: They got the metric system, they wouldn’t know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: What’d they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with Cheese.
Jules: [repeating] Royale with Cheese. What’d they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Big Mac’s a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.
Jules: Le Big Mac. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn’t go into a Burger King. But you know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?
Jules: What?
Vincent: Mayonnaise.

I don’t know about you but there are times when I am susceptible to cravings for certain kinds of food or drink. Sometimes it is the smell, sometimes a visual clue and often it doesn’t matter if I am hungry or thirsty when a craving begins. It so happens that this craving coincided with the NLF first round playoff weekend, commonly referred to as the Wild Card Weekend.

After returning from a poker game with my buddies from the local bar that I eat at I returned home to dinner with my little dog Molly and the Wild Card games. Well, compared to past seasons where the Wild Card games were wild and exciting, this weekend was not the best NFL playoff football that I have ever seen. The games were not that exciting. In fact the game between the Packers and Vikings was so boring that I fell asleep watching it. I woke up at the end of the 3rd quarter and seeing the score decided to put a movie on my DVD player.

I decided on the Quentin Tarantino classic Pulp Fiction. This is one of my favorite films and I always find it quite entertaining. In the early part of the movie the characters played by Samuel L Jackson (Jules Winnfield) and John Travolta (Vincent Vega) bust in on some guys who ripped off their boss Marcellus Wallace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIvUGUzR9N0

During the interaction Jules notices that the men are eating breakfast and this is where the craving part comes in. The young men are having hamburgers. I love hamburgers. In my continuing effort to eat right I don’t have them often but once in a while I want a hamburger. A good hamburger.

Jules: Looks like me and Vincent caught you boys at breakfast, sorry ’bout that. What’cha havin’?

Brett: Hamburgers.

Jules: Hamburgers. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.

[Jules grabs Brett’s burger and take a bite of it.]

Jules: Uuummmm, this is a tasty burger. Vincent, you ever try a Big Kahuna Burger?

Vincent: No.

Jules: Wanna bite, they’re real tasty.

Vincent: I ain’t hungry.

Jules: Well, if you like burgers give ’em a try sometime. Me, I can’t usually get ’em myself because my girlfriend’s a vegetarian which pretty much makes me a vegetarian. But I do love the taste of a good burger. Mmm. You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France?

Brett: No.

Jules: Tell ’em, Vincent.

Vincent: Royale with cheese.

Jules: Royale with cheese! You know why they call it that?

Brett: Because of the metric system?

Jules: Check out the big brain on Brett! You’re a smart motherfucker. That’s right. The metric system. What’s in this? [pointing to the cup of drink in front of Brett]

Brett: Sprite.

Jules: Sprite, good. You mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?

Brett: Go right ahead.

[takes a long sip of the drink]

Jules: Aaah, that hit the spot.

When I saw the hamburger on Brett’s plate and Jules taking a bite of it I got a craving. A wanted a hamburger and I wanted one now. However, it was late and the only place to get one at that hour was the McDonalds Drive through about 5 miles away. I resisted the craving, at least for the moment and got through the night without one.

We fast forward to today. Another day of not so great football. So after the first game between the Colts and Ravens I went to my hang out here on the island, Rucker Johns for a burger and a couple of beers while watching the next game between the Redskins and the Seahawks.

The game didn’t hit the spot but the burger and the beer did. Hopefully the games next week will be more exciting and competitive. But come Sunday I just may have another beer or two and another burger over at Rucker Johns. Until then it will be back to my salads coupled with decent physical fitness activity.

However, the comments in the film about the McDonalds “Royale” brought back memories. It is not just in France that the McDonalds burger known in this country as the Quarter Pounder is known as the Royale. It is also known as that in Germany, where I first encountered it in 1984. Yes it is known as the Royal in Germany because there too, like France they use the Metric system. Despite that the Hamburger Royal is a treat when the delicacies of Europe grow old and one desires something from America. The cool thing is that in Germany you can get a beer with your Hamburger Royal Value Meal. Were we so forward thinking in the country, but as the French say c’est la vie.

Speaking of Germany tonight I am watching another Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds. Until tomorrow “Oooh, that’s a bingo!”

Peace

Padre Steve+

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Filed under beer, film, football, movies

Tagged as baltimore ravens, green bay packers, hamburger royal, hamburger royale, hamburgers, hans landa, indianapolis colts, inglourious basterds, jules winnfield, metric system, minnesota vikings, nfl playoffs, packers-vikings, pulp fiction, quarter Pounder, quentin tarantino, samuel l jackson, seattle seahawks, that's a bingo, vincent vega, washington redskins, wild card weekend

December 23, 2012 · 13:39

That War Would Cease: The Christmas Truce of 1914

“Tonight, these men were drawn to that altar like it was a fire in the middle of winter. Even those who aren’t devout came to warm themselves.” Chaplain Palmer Joyeux Noël

The war was supposed to be over by Christmas, or so the planners had said. Instead after a series of massive battles that produced unprecedented number of casualties the war settled into a stalemate. As the sides exhausted themselves in a series of meeting engagements throwing the flower of their idealistic youth into the great maw of the front to be torn apart by massed artillery and machine gun fire the planners sought new ways to find military victory.

In December 1914 with neither side having the ability to force the issue and casualties already running over a million dead and wounded the armies dug in. Massive trench networks were constructed in the mud of France and Belgium as the artillery continued its impersonal work of destroying men, machines and the homeland of millions of civilians.

From Clipboard

Despite the stalemate the high commands of the various nations continued to through their troops into meaningless attacks to gain a few yards of their opponent’s trench networks. The attackers always suffered the worst as they went “over the top” and were cut down by well sited machine guns and networks of defensive redoubts.

As Christmas neared individual parties of British and German troops began to fraternize exchanging gifts and attempting despite the wishes of their commanders to maintain an attitude of live and let live. On Christmas Eve German troops began to decorate their trenches with Christmas trees and lights, carols were sung and Christmas greetings exchanged as the local truces became widespread and soldiers met in no man’s land to talk and give each other gifts of cigarettes, alcohol, food and souvenirs. In some places the sides helped each other collect and bury their dead and some Chaplains even led Christmas services in which men of both sides worshipped.

The truce would not last as the high commands of each side issued strict orders against them and within days had moved the units that they believed most “infected” by the Christmas spirit to other locations and replaced them with units inculcated with the message of the inhumanity of their enemy. Such messages often included the religious understanding of this being a “holy war” against enemies of God and humanity. It is funny that though Moslems are frequently demonized for committing Jihad that Christians have a terrible record when it comes to finding theological reasons to kill those that they believe, even other Christians to be the enemy.

Christmas Day December 1914 World War One

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-MGfNsgB3A

This really wasn’t surprising, after all for in the years leading up to the war many school children, especially in France and Germany had been propagandized. Churches and ministers cooperated in the carnage. In the movie Joyeux Noel the British Padre who had cooperated in the Christmas truce is relieved by his Bishop and sent home. The Bishop then preaches to the newly arrived soldiers, those replacing the men who had found peace for a moment. The sermon is not a work of fiction, it is actually part of a sermon that actually was given in Westminster Abbey in 1915. It was a sentiment that fit the mood of the high command who sought to minimize the danger of peace without victory. It was a sermon, the likes of which were preached by ministers, preachers, priests and bishops throughout that terrible war. It is a sermon that many preachers, Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Hindu even today mimic with terrible consequences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMPxjUE40iw

“Christ our Lord said, “Think not that I come to bring peace on earth. I come not to bring peace, but a sword.” The Gospel according to St. Matthew. Well, my brethren, the sword of the Lord is in your hands. You are the very defenders of civilization itself. The forces of good against the forces of evil. For this war is indeed a crusade! A holy war to save the freedom of the world. In truth I tell you: the Germans do not act like us, neither do they think like us, for they are not, like us, children of God. Are those who shell cities populated only by civilians the children of God? Are those who advanced armed hiding behind women and children the children of God? With God’s help, you must kill the Germans, good or bad, young or old. Kill every one of them so that it won’t have to be done again.”

Unfortunately I have met and heard men preach the same message against those they hate, a message that twists the words of Jesus in a diabolical way to justify the worst acts of nations and peoples. In the year 2013 wars rage around the world. Some are conducted by well organized professional militaries but many by militias, paramilitary and terrorists groups. In some cases the brutality and inhumanity exhibited makes the industrialized carnage of the First World War seem sane. Even now preachers of various religions, including Christians, Moslems and Jews advocate the harshest treatment of the enemies of their peoples all in “the name of God.”

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Six years ago I was traveling up and down the western border of Iraq with Syria. I was visiting our Marines that were advising the Iraqi Army and Border Forces, conducting Christmas services for them and also visiting Iraqi soldiers as well as civilians. In a couple of instances Iraqi and Jordanian Christians working as interpreters came to the Eucharist services, for one it had been years since he had received the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Communion. While out and about visiting Iraqis we were hosted by Iraqi troops and well as Bedouin tribesmen and their families. The warmth and hospitality and faith of these wonderful people was amazing. T.E. Lawrence wrote that “the Bedouin could not look for God within him: he was too sure that he was within God.”

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I think that for me that Christmas week was the one that will remain with me more than any and despite being in a war zone, it for me was a time of peace on earth and good will toward men.

Maybe someday we will begin to understand.

Peace

Padre Steve+

6 Comments

Filed under christian life, faith, film, History, iraq,afghanistan, Religion, Tour in Iraq

Tagged as bedouin, christmas in iraq, christmas truce, iraq, iraqi christians, joyeux noel film, t e lawrence, world war i

December 12, 2012 · 23:58

Padre Steve’s White Christmas

holiday-inn-ss

I don’t do much singing nor do I play a musical instrument but I have been listening to nothing on the radio the past several days except Christmas music on the Sirius XM Sounds of the Season channel. I have stopped, for the next couple of weeks listening to sports talk radio, news and political commentary and even my beloved 1970s music. One song that appears quite regularly is the classic is Irving Berlin’s White Christmas which was first recorded by Bing Crosby for the 1942 film Holiday Inn. The song was released shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack by Crosby and has become a staple of Christmas.

Decca18429A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yg5g_Xl-uU

It is really quite Amazing, the song is the most recorded song on this planet, and possibly even on the Klingon Home World in the future, of course it will be the Twisted Sister Version that makes number one on the Klingon Charts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2JdsZ0fSr8

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When it was released in 1942 White Christmas sold over 30 million copies and remained number one on the Pop and R&B charts for 10 weeks. It remained the number one single in its initial release for over 50 years when Elton John released his Candle in the Wind 1997 written and performed for the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales. There is controversy about this as White Christmas was re-released by Decca in 1945 and 1946 and the totals for all are estimated at over 50 million copies as opposed to the 33 million of Candle in the Wind 1997. The song is the only song to ever reach the number one position on the pop charts three separate times.

The song has been recorded over 500 times by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Ernest Tubbs, Elvis Presley, Andy Williams, the Carpenters, Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, Chicago, Otis Redding, Barbara Streisand and even Twisted Sister.

The Drifters version was the first appeared on the R&B chart before crossing over to the pop charts. However it was little known until it was used in 1990 film Home Alone.

1996-drifters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGcrvApljY

A classic country rendition of the song was done by the legendary Ernest Tubb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNzvUh-tJRY while Elvis Presley recorded hit in 1957 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3shhn_elvis-presley-white-christmas_music

So my friends, enjoy a very White Christmas!

Peace

Padre Steve+

4 Comments

Filed under film, movies, music

Tagged as barbra streisand, bing crosby, bob marley and the whalers, candle in the wind 1997, cello green, chicago, decca records, diana krall, elton john, elvis presley, ernest tubbs, frank sinatra, garth brooks, holiday inn film, irving berlin, kelly clarkson, kenny rogers and dolly parton, klingon home world, lady gaga, michael bolton, otis redding, perry como, rascal flatts, rod stewart, taylor swift, the carpenters, the celtic women, the drifters, twisted sister, white christmas

Category Archives: film

My Life is Movie Quotes

Star Trek: Into Darkness

42: Thank God for Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey

Padre Steve’s Thoughts on the Academy Awards

Blazing Saddles at 39

Feet of Clay: The Common Flaw of the Best and Brightest

Craving a Hamburger: Pulp Fiction and a Less than Inglourious Wild Card Weekend

That War Would Cease: The Christmas Truce of 1914

Padre Steve’s White Christmas

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